With a client in Europe, talking to a supplier in NYC. Supplier was worries because her husband worked a block away from WTC. She said something about a plane hitting WTC, but we were focused on our problem, not some accident. Then the line were cut and when we tried to call back we got no connection. Then we talked to some colleagues who told us to watch the TV and the whole thing dawned on us.

We called her back some week later and apologized for being insensitive. Her husband was fine.

I was goofing off in Santiago de Compostela in Spain on a 6 month holiday. Just finished lounging in the sun by a local river, wandered home wondering why everything was so quiet. Put the tv on and watched the second plane smack home live as it happened. I just knew things were going to be shitty for years to come... and boy was I right there!

I was in the basement of a hotel in Portsmouth NH doing laundry. The next day the hotel was packed because of all the people in town on day trips couldn't get home. Later I found out a cousin of mine was supposed to be flying to LA from Boston Logan that day on United Airlines Flight 175, which hit the south tower. He missed his flight. Thankfully.

From my point of view:Bloomington, MN adjacent to the east side of Mall of America

I got a really odd phone call from a friend who worked in a building where the IRS and a member of congress had office space. The call was something like, "Hey, this is really odd, the whole floor below us just evacuated.... <pause> GET YOURSELF IN FRONT OF A TV NOW, one of the world trade center towers is burning."

Before I could get to a TV my cellphone rang and it was mom. "Where the hell are you? In an airport, on a plane?" It was a very brief conversation. While I was talking with her I was watching police take up positions to block the access roads to the mall. A steady stream of cars was exiting Mall of America - it was before business hours and the employees were being evacuated.

Got a TV working just in time to see the plane hit the second tower. I knew I wasn't going to get any work done the rest of the day. It was so odd seeing no planes in the sky... I sat at home that afternoon watching the local TV stations from NYC and Washington. I think the smartcard in the satellite receiver must've malfunctioned.

I was at work and some customers came in talking about a plane crashing into a building in NYC. I called my wife who was at home recuperating from minor surgery and asked her to turn on the TV and tell me what was happening. Once I realized the gravity of the situation, I immediately called my friend who lives in Manhattan to make sure he and his family were okay. Amazingly, I got through. He was fine and he asked me to call his mom to let her know he was safe since he hadn't been able to get through to her. Of course I called her right away and she broke into tears of relief; she hadn't been able to get through, either.

I don't remember where I was 9/11, because I didn't know it had happened. I was so puzzled as to what possibly could have happened that made everyone decide not to show up to my birthday party the next day!

I was in my student appartment with other room mate, in Europe. A friend called me on my phone and told me:

- Turn on CNN, now!- Why? Did you hit the front news on CNN? What did you do?- I tell you to turn on CNN, you will see.- I'm not really in a mood to watch CNN, tell me what is happening.- A plane just crashed on the pentagon!

(At that point, I thought it was, you now, a small 2-3 passengers plane. Nothing really important)

I laughed:- Ahah, those americans. They are so arrogants, so paranoid about security and they let a plane go through all the securities to crash on the pentagon!- Exactly, watch CNN, you will see!

I hanged the phone and started to watch the news. Then I realize it was not the pentagon. There was something else. The same images were sent in loop on the tv. I was hyptonized. Then the second plane crashed in the tower. Then One tower collapsed. I immediately called my friend back.- Man, this is not funny anymore. I thought it was a small plane.- No, this is not funny at all.

Then, for the whole day, we sat in front of the TV with my roommates, watching the endless loop of images.

The one thing I've learn that day is how hypnotic it was, how easy it was to spend the whole day in front of a tv, hoping to see more where all we saw was the endless loop of the same 5 minutes footage.

for me i was walking down a cement pathway to a class when some idiot ran by yelling with his arms up in the air "The World trade center has been destroyed" first thing i thought was "what a dumb arse... and what/where is the WTC and who cares?" .. thinking that maybe he meant it was like demolished cause it was old and being replaced etc. Only Really found out what happened when i got to class and the teacher was like "class has been canceled today, something terrible has happened" though we did end up watching the news on the TV.

I was in Bulgaria, just returning from work and pop by my parents to say "Hi". When I entered, I saw two people hypnotised in front of the TV. Gave it a quick glance saying: "Damn, another crap action movie!". "It's not a movie, it's for real", my father said. Then there were three people stuck in front of the TV, browsing the news channels. I knew that so many things were going to change back then...